Sheep Eyeball Dissection today... eeewwwwww

Just look at that face, haha!

New House!

We have chosen! Here's our new house we're going to be closing on on June 1st! It's in Hope Mills, NC just a couple of miles away from where our last house was located. Lance met the builder today to just go over a couple of things since the house is a new construction. We were able to choose some things for the bathroom and kitchen. He actually lives in the neighborhood, which is also new and has kids Ashlynne's age. (not to mention her best friend from NC lives just up the road) He tells us there are also neighbors across the street and next door with 3 and 4 year olds for Trey-- YAY!

Ok, here's the link to the virtual tour, which doesn't quite do it justice. Construction was almost completed at that point. http://rtvpix.com/rst/RE-9055-K2DW7Q-01

Easter 2009

The kids and I spent Easter at Ernie & Claire's house this year-- we wish Lance could have been with us! But, the Easter Bunny found us and left lots of good treats for Ashlynne & Trey. We pried the candy and lollipops out of Trey's hands to go to mass, had a wonderful Easter lunch (thanks Claire!) and all too soon had to head home to Monterey.

But Lance will be flying home this Friday and we're planning Trey's birthday for Saturday afternoon at the house. Ernie & Claire and Grandma Bergman will all be coming down to help us celebrate and visit before the big move!

Hanging Out with Becky & Victoria

The weekend before Easter Lance's cousin, Becky and her daughter, Victoria came down to hang out with us before we have to move. We took them on one of our favorite activities to do around here-- hunting for sea glass! We found more that afternoon than we have the whole time we've been here combined I think. Becky and Victoria had never done it before so now they have a new hobby, they loved it! We also saw some sea life in the tide pools around the shore as you can see below. Little hermit crabs, some fish and even a star fish!

Ended the day with a great lunch and conversation at Chili's before they had to get back on the road to Freemont (just north of San Jose) for son, Nicholas' championship hockey game that night.

Whale Watching trip in Monterey Bay

Thanks to my old neighbor Holly, before she moved away she gave us a whale watching trip she never got a chance to use. And since time is running out for us too, what a perfect time to see them! This was at the tail end of Grandma Mickie's visit, so Ashlynne had already started back to school and unfortunately, missed it-- but we promise to make it up to her! The only other downsides were the chilling wind that cut through you if you were on the shady side of the boat and the lovely Grade-A-two-year-old-temper-tantrum Trey threw when we put the life vest on him. The picture of him below was when he finally resigned himself to wearing it and fell asleep about five minutes later. The rest of the boat was relieved I'm sure!

We followed a group of grey whales and got to see them so many times! Didn't get real good shots but here's the best of the lot. Check out those sea lions on our way out-- wow! Here's a link to the company's website that does the tours: http://www.montereybaywhalewatch.com/ very interesting and we had a great time!

Spring Break/ Grandma Mickie's visit

While it's obvious I have been shirking (?) my duties updating the blog (sorry!), it's not for being lazy! Lots have been happening in the last month and I've got the pics to prove it!

Ashlynne's Spring Break was the last two weeks of March and we were happy to have Grandma Mickie come and spend it with us. (She's got lots of good pictures on her phone too which I hope she'll share with me so I can pass 'em along to you.) We picked her up at the San Francisco airport and went down to the famous Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf and had a fabulous dinner. Mom got the barbecued mango swordfish and it was hard not to gobble it all up right off her plate! And real San Francisco sourdough bread....mmmmm.

The rest of our time was spent doing some sightseeing all throughout Monterey, Carmel and down through Big Sur. We spent one whole day driving over 2 hours south down the Pacific Coast Highway (the PCH to us locals, lol) through Big Sur and had an amazing time despite the wind! That first shot is from the Rocky Point Restaurant where we had lunch with that amazing view. We drove all the way down to Hearst Castle where William Randolph Hearst lived and hosted his famous celebrity parties in the 30s and 40s. We only saw it from a distance as we were too late to do a tour. Maybe next time! Here's some of the best pics.